Knowing a Garda...

kbell

We've all heard the loud mouth in the pub boasting how he was caught speeding, and one quick call to the guard who lives a few doors down, everything was forgotten and never heard of again.

Does knowing a guard,related to,married to etc.. entitle one to privileges??

Say i was done for speeding,non display of tax, or insurance etc.., Would a quick call to Garda John next door or brother in law Garda seamus have me back motoring without concern.

Hypothetical situations of course,just was always curious about this.

johnnyskeleton

kbell wrote: »

We've all heard the loud mouth in the pub boasting how he was caught speeding, and one quick call to the guard who lives a few doors down, everything was forgotten and never heard of again.
...
Say i was done for speeding,non display of tax, or insurance etc.., Would a quick call to Garda John next door or brother in law Garda seamus have me back motoring without concern.

Hypothetical situations of course,just was always curious about this.

It depends on how much of a conscience the garda in question has. Gardai have a reasonable amount of discretion as to whether they should charge someone or not. Some gardai will obviously have a few words with the complainant officer to try to get their friend/relative off, but it is grossly unethical and it undermines the public confidence in the gardai when someone says things like this.

Obviously I have no problem with a garda's friend giving advice etc to someone about a legal question, and I don't take any issue with a garda explaining to another that they know the accused and they are not a bad person etc, but dropping a charge is wrong. Could you imagine if a friend of yours worked for the revenue commissioners and they exempted you from paying tax?

Finally, there seems to be a growing trend for gardai to prosecute other gardai where they find them committing another offence e.g. drink driving etc. This is a good thing, as it means that the gardai are not above the law.

kbell wrote: »

Does [being] married to [a garda].. entitle one to privileges??

Take that kind of talk elsewhere.

Kimbot

Well, i was asked to produce a few years ago in my local station as I only had the bike and even though the tax, insurance and bike were paid for all i had was a shop receipt. I produced within a week with all docs and after 8 months I received a good few summons (8 if i remember correctly) for failing to produce all. My grandads mate is a guard and we rang him and he rang the station and basically told them to look through their records again. I also went into him in his workplace on the same day and produced to him just to make sure it was all fine. The gaurd that issued the summons rang me and told me he made a mistake and all was well. After a few more months i got double the amount of summonses for failing to appear in court aswell and the gaurds were at my house to arrest me. One phone call to my grandads friend and it was all sorted.

Not the same scenario but sometimes knowing a guard can be benificial.

Oilrig

I think those days are gone...

And, Good Riddance.

Rhonda9000

Oilrig wrote: »

I think those days are gone...

And, Good Riddance.

If only the loudmouths in the pub would follow suit next